


On Knowing and Loving

by WatchTheAntagonist



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Assassination Attempt(s), F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28464060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchTheAntagonist/pseuds/WatchTheAntagonist
Summary: Primsy Coldbottle knew that it was possible to love someone without completely understanding them. After all, she would never truly understand how her beloved cousin had given up the throne for a life on the seas, though she would always accept the decisions she made. And she knew that there were parts of Liam that she had never seen.
Relationships: Primsy Coldbottle/Liam Wilhelmina Jawbreaker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	On Knowing and Loving

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @smallestbrown for the D20 Gift Exchange!

Liam was staring off into the distance as he and Primsy walked through the woods arm in arm. This wasn’t unusual; he had a tendency to get lost in thought. She liked to poke his arms to bring him back to her. Occasionally, she’d sneak a shy kiss on his cheek which would leave them both flustered and blushing. She sometimes would ask him where his mind had been. He would sometimes tell her. He had found a new type of seed the day before, or he had seen an oddly shaped cloud, or he was thinking about planning a new expedition deeper into the forests of the newly expanded Candia. Sometimes it would be more serious. His brow would furrow, and he’d tell her about some trade disagreement that was getting tense, or some nobleman who had been giving Amethar a hard time. Sometimes he wouldn’t answer at all, and she would gently take his hand and give it a squeeze.

Primsy Coldbottle knew that it was possible to love someone without completely understanding them. After all, she would never truly understand how her beloved cousin had given up the throne for a life on the seas, though she would always accept the decisions she made. And she knew that there were parts of Liam that she had never seen.

She would see glimpses of it, sometimes. She watched him bend down and dig up a peppermint seed on one of the long walks that they shared, clutching it tightly in his hands with his head bowed. In the long looks of silent understanding and words in a language that no one else knew that passed between him and Ruby. In the way that, even now, as the peaceful days of unity between the nations of Calorum stretched on, his crossbow was never far from his sight.

Today, instead of answering her gentle query, Liam shushed her. Primsy quieted, more out of surprise than anything else. Liam never acted like that. Her. . . _previous_ love had often talked over her. He had been. . . pushy, sometimes, demanding she find a way for them to get married. She had been so in love at the time that it hadn’t really registered. Maybe it was just the clarity of hindsight, but either way it made her appreciate all the more Liam’s quiet attention as he always listened to her.

“Liam, what are you doing?” she asked as soon as she got over her shock.

“Quiet,” he said, a coldness in his voice that she didn’t recognize and a distance in his eyes that she did. “Someone’s following us. When I say, dive to the ground and get under those bushes for cover.”

Primsy gulped and nodded tensely, fighting to keep her body language neutral in order to not alert their pursuers. She would not be much use in a fight, but she knew how to do that from the battlefields of diplomacy. The walked a few steps forward, as close to cover as they could get without obviously straying from the path.

“Now,” Liam whispered. Primsy dove for the bushes as Liam whirled in a smooth motion, firing a bolt into the trees, followed almost immediately by another. Just beyond the light of the path, she heard a voice cry out and be quickly silenced, followed immediately by a thud as something—someone—fell hard from the trees. There weren’t any more sounds.

“Don’t move,” Liam said, as if reading her thoughts. “There’s more of them.” And then he stepped into the shadows of the trees, and he vanished.

Primsy gulped. She had heard about Liam’s skill in battle, though she had never seen it herself, having been unconscious for most of the battle on the Colby. Sailors talk, though, and so she had heard about how Liam disappeared into the blackness, only to send crossbow bolts into the hearts of enemy after enemy after enemy. She almost hadn’t believed it, then. It was hard to reconcile the warrior even her loyal sailors watched out of the corners of their eyes with the sweet boy who had given her a flower and blushed when she had asked him to be her champion.

Liam could win, she argued with herself. He was strong. Just because he hadn’t fought in years, hadn’t _wanted_ to fight in years, didn’t mean that he was any less capable. She debated with herself like she would a hostile ambassador. Always polite, gently pointing out the flaws in the foolish arguments, but utterly unyielding.

It was easy, to debate the part of herself that worried that Liam wouldn’t be able to stop the assassins that were coming for her. Much easier than trying to face the part of herself that whispered that maybe he didn’t want to. She had been wrong when judging character before, but Liam wasn’t anything like _him._ She wouldn’t let herself even consider it.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she jerked, opening her mouth to scream for help, when she realized it was Liam. He had stepped back from her as soon as she had moved, standing a couple feet away as she got to her feet by herself.

“There were more?” she asked, as Liam wasn’t saying anything.

“Not anymore,” he said. Ah. She looked him up and down, making sure he wasn’t hurt. There was blood on his hands, but it didn’t look like it was his. She pulled out her handkerchief, a nice one she had embroidered with a peppermint swirl and reached out to help him clean it off. He flinched back, seeming to notice the blood for the first time, and hid his hands behind his back. She noticed he wasn’t meeting his eyes.

Most of the time, when he was quiet, they walked or sat together in comfortable silence that neither felt the need to fill. But this silence was anything but comfortable. Primsy took a deep breath. She was a diplomat to her core, and talking around things she wasn’t ready to face yet was what she did.

“What was it that you were planning on naming that new seed you found?” she asked, stepping close to his side and starting to walk forward along the path.

“Ah, um, the Rabbit’s Paw?” Liam said hesitantly. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when he fell into step beside her.

“That’s the one. I remember now.” Of course she remembered. They had spent hours together coming up with some rather atrocious names before finally settling on a good one. “Where was it found, did you say?”

Gently, she coaxed him into conversation. It was halting and awkward, each of them struggling to reach for the right words. But that wasn’t uncommon, and they worked around it like they would work around everything else. Eventually, he let his hand drift over to hers in a familiar motion. In an even more familiar motion, she took it and squeezed it gently.

Later, she would hold him. He would tell her about the monsters he sees in the dark and how easy it was for him to kill them all and how that scared him. He would tell her about the fear of loving that which could be taken from him, and the rage he felt at those who would dare to try. Later, he would hold her. She would tell him about the fear of crouching in the bushes waiting for an assailant she was not strong enough to fight and the phantom pain from a dagger belonging to someone she loved. She would tell him about the fear of loving that which could betray her, and the courage it took to wait for his return. They would never be able to truly know each other; they could only try. But that was for later. For now, they would walk, hand in bloody hand. And they would talk about seeds.


End file.
